Behind Your Eyes
by Thinker
Summary: Something attacks Sora and invades her mind, leaving her comatose. Davis and company look for a cure while a bold plan is hatched to save her: send someone else inside her mind to find the mystery invader. And so, Tai enters a mysterious realm, in the process confronting his own and Sora's conflicting feelings about each other. Only now, confronting those feelings may be deadly...
1. Dain Bramage

**Behind Your Eyes, Part 1**

**"Dain Bramage"**

_The lunatic is in my head._

_The lunatic is in my head._

_You raise the blade,_

_You make the change,_

_You rearrange me 'til I'm sane._

_You lock the door_

_And throw away the key._

_There's someone in my head, but it's not me…_

_-From "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd_

The whole thing started on a surprisingly sunny day. It was warm and only sporadic clouds interrupted the otherwise perfectly blue sky. The sun was shining brightly and it reflected off the metal buildings of the city below. This was Full Metal City, and it had a small troupe of visitors that day.

"Andromon!" Tai called.

"Andromon, where are you?" Kari hollered.

"You don't think that the Digimon Emperor got to him first, do you?" asked Joe.

"It is possible," said Izzy.

"No way!" exclaimed Davis haughtily. "He ought to know better than to mess with our friends! Especially after this last time."

"Surprisingly, I agree with Davis," said Cody. "Ken would probably pick a different target first before attacking something we were familiar with this time."

"Still, the sooner we find Andromon, the better," Sora said. "Hey, come on you guys!" she called.

Behind her lagged the others. Yolei, TK, Matt, and the digimon all brought up the rear, letting Tai and Kari do most of the calling.

"You know, maybe we should split up and see if we can find anyone who's seen him," suggested Matt.

"That might work," said TK. "The Gardromon probably know where he is and they'd want to help him, since he's protecting them and all."

Tai stopped and considered. "That might be a good idea, now that you mention it. Okay, everyone split up into pairs and check out the surrounding area. We'll see what we can find out and meet back here in ten minutes."

"Great!" said Davis. "I'll go with Kari!"

"No you won't, Davis," said Tai. "In case we run into trouble, every team will need an active digimon. You and Kari each need to go with someone who has no digimon. Kari, you and Gatomon can come with me."

"No problem," said Kari, walking off with Tai, Gatomon joining them.

"Joe, would you like to come with me?" Cody asked.

"Sure, let's go," Joe said.

"Yolei?" Izzy asked.

"Sounds fine to me. Come on, Hawkmon!" she called.

"Feel like hanging out with your older brother, still, TK?" Matt asked.

"If he didn't," Patamon interjected, "would he have invited you to come with us?"

"I guess not," Matt said as he and TK laughed.

Everyone went their separate ways, searching the steely buildings. That only left…

"Looks like it's you and me, goggle boy," Sora said to Davis.

"Fine," Davis sighed. "Well, let's go."

"I'm right behind ya, Davis!" V-mon said cheerfully.

* * *

The mission that day was simple. Find Andromon and warn him about the Digimon Emperor's new dark spirals. With those, he could regain control of Andromon and do it without relying on a control spire. All the other digimon had been successfully contacted and warned about the new development, but Andromon had proven tough to find. And that was bad news. Andromon was an incredibly powerful digimon, an ultimate level digimon with tremendous combat potential. When he'd been taken over with a black gear years ago, it had taken three champion digimon to bring him down. And the last time the Digidestined had encountered him, not even five armored digimon could stop him. There was no doubt in many of their minds that Ken would try to regain control of him and Full Metal City.

Warning him wasn't supposed to be difficult. It was supposed to take a half hour or so, after which they would all return home. It would be easy. They'd all make it back home in time for soccer, kendo, band practice, dinner, or whatever was going on.

That was the way it was supposed to be.

* * *

Tai and Kari had just rounded a corner and were stepping out of one of the alleys when they spotted a Gardromon standing in the street, looking upwards.

"Hey, let's ask him if he knows what's going on," Kari suggested. Tai nodded and went up to the large, iron creature.

"Excuse me, but have you seen Andromon?" Tai asked.

The robot turned to face him. "He is up there," it said, pointing, its voice a mechanical buzz. Tai and Kari looked up to see Andromon atop one of the buildings. He was examining some devices, though the reason was not apparent.

"Andromon!" Kari called. "What are you doing up there?"

Andromon turned and looked down at her upon hearing her voice. He held up one mechanical finger and then made his way to the staircase. A moment later, he was on the street.

"Tai. Kari. It is surprising to see you here," the cyborg digimon said.

"How are things?" Kari asked conversationally.

"Everything seems to be working well. The Gardromon are all functioning at optimum levels, as is the city's computer system."

"That's great," Tai said, slightly impatient, "but the reason we came was to warn you."

"There is a need for caution?" Andromon asked. "Why?"

* * *

"I never get to be alone with Kari," Davis mumbled. "Just once, I mean, just _once _would be nice…"

"Cheer up, Davis!" said V-mon. "You'll get your chance eventually."

"You're right," said Davis, shaking off his bad mood. "I just have to keep trying to impress her and one day I know she'll fall for me!"

Sora chuckled behind him, causing him to spin around. He'd forgotten she was even there. They were in one of the buildings. They went in and found that all the rooms on the first floor were empty. The lights off and the cold metal walls bare. There was a staircase and they were planning to go upstairs and investigate further.

"What?" Davis asked, frowning.

"Well," Sora began. "No. Never mind. Forget it."

"No, what is it?" Davis insisted.

"Okay," she said. "I'm just laughing at the way you keep chasing after Kari. You're clingy and it's kind of cute."

"You think Kari thinks it's cute?" Davis asked hopefully.

"No, I think she thinks it's funny," Sora said. Davis' shoulders sagged.

"I mean," she went on, "you're obsessed. And trust me, girls don't like it when guys chase them and pester them and spend all of their time trying to impress them and ending up looking like goofs."

"Hey, I'm not like that!" Davis exclaimed. "Right, V-mon?"

V-mon looked away and scratched the back of his head. "Well…"

"Come on, back me up here!" Davis said, causing Sora to start laughing again.

"Listen, I'm sorry," she said, "but this constant obsessing is dumb and you're never going to get Kari to like you that way."

Davis frowned. "Yeah, well, what do you know?" he retorted. "At least I'm not afraid to say how I feel, bottling things up like _some _people I know."

Now it was Sora's turn to frown. "What are you saying?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," Davis said, grinning. "Hold on, I feel a sneeze coming on… Ah-ah-ah-chyoulikeTai!"

"Bless you," Sora said, crossing her arms, scowling at him.

"Thanks," said Davis, smiling mischievously. "Now, come on V-mon, let's go check out the upstairs!"

"I'm right behind ya!" The two of them took off faster than Sora would have expected and were up the stairs before Sora could even react to his sudden enthusiasm. She sighed quietly and followed behind.

When she got to the staircase, however, she heard a noise behind her. She turned and peered into the shadows of one of the rooms to try and discern where the sound came from. "Hello?" she asked. "Is there anyone there?"

The answer came in the form of two long, metal tentacles that shot out of the darkness and quickly wrapped around her waist and mouth. The one around her mouth muffled her startled cry and the two dragged her into the darkness as she struggled helplessly.

A cold, emotionless voice was there with her. "There, there," it said, doing nothing to soothe her. "Just hold still. This will only take a second, my dear. You may feel a slight sting…"

Then there was a sharp, driving pain in the back of her head. The blackness became complete.

* * *

"So, now the Emperor can command a fully evolved digimon with greater ease?" Andromon asked.

"You got it," Tai said.

"Thank you for the warning. I will be sure to tell all Gardromon to take extra precautions. I would hate for them to come under such influence again."

"Well, it was good to see you again Andromon," Kari said.

"I reciprocate your feelings," Andromon said, smiling. "I wish you could stay longer, but I suppose I must prepare for the storm anyway."

"Storm? What storm?" Tai asked. He was answered by the sudden sound of distant thunder. Tai looked up and saw a massive black cloud sweeping in over the city. The blue sky was rapidly being covered this cloud. A slight chill set in as wind began to blow.

"My instruments picked it up earlier," Andromon said. "That was what I was doing when you arrived. It may become severe."

"Well, let's get the others and get back home," said Tai to Kari. Kari was about to respond when they heard something.

It was the sound of Davis yelling for help.

* * *

"Davis, what is it?" TK said, he and Matt arriving on the scene first.

"It's Sora! She-oh man!" Davis said, frantic.

"Sora?" Matt asked, pressing for details. "What about her, what happened?"

V-mon spoke up. "She's out cold! We can't wake her up!"

TK and Matt went inside and saw Sora laying sprawled out on the floor. The two of them rushed to her side and tried to revive her.

"Sora?" Matt said loudly. "Sora, can you hear me?"

"Sora, wake up!" TK said, shaking her hand. To his dismay, he found it was completely limp. There was no evidence that she could feel anything at all.

Just then, Joe, Cody, Yolei, and Izzy came in, bringing Davis in with them.

"What's wrong with her?" Yolei asked worriedly.

Joe, his face stern, knelt down next to Sora, slightly pushing Matt and TK out of his way. Joe wasn't a doctor by a long shot, but he was definitely most qualified to examine her.

He checked her pulse and put his hand of her nose and mouth. He opened her eye and pulled out a little flashlight from his pocket and shined it in her pupils. He took note of the results and stood up.

"What is it, Joe?" Cody asked.

"Well, she's alive," said Joe, "and she's definitely not conscious. But I'm not sure about why. Her eyes are moving and her pupils are contracting normally."

"What does that mean?" Matt asked.

Joe was about to respond when Tai, Kari, and, to everyone's surprise, Andromon entered.

"What happened?" Tai asked, astonished. "Did someone do this to Sora? Davis, you were here, what happened?"

"I-I don't know," Davis stammered, still panicking. "I went up the stairs for a look and when I came back she was like this!"

"You mean you left her?" Tai asked, his eyes angry now. "Alone? Unprotected? Davis, how could you have been so irresponsible?"

Davis stepped back, hurt. He turned away, not looking at Tai.

"Well, come on, let's get her to a hospital!" Tai said, forgetting Davis, going to lift Sora.

"Tai, hold it!" Joe said, standing in his way. "We don't know what caused here injury. If she has back trauma, moving her might kill her!"

Tai froze and listened to Joe.

"As I was about to tell everyone," Joe began, "I'm not sure what caused her injury, but her symptoms are bizarre. She isn't acting like someone who's been 'knocked out.' It's almost like she's been drugged or something. It's more like she's asleep and can't wake up."

"Well, what should we do?" Izzy asked.

"I think it would be a good idea if we all tried to carry her _carefully_ to safety," Joe said. "But unfortunately, I'm not sure if it's safe to transport her back to earth. The return trip home is, well, less than smooth, if you know what I mean."

"Well, where can we take her?" Yolei asked.

"I have a suggestion," Andromon interjected. "Not far from here is a facility that has examination instruments that might help determine what her injuries are. It is usually used for defective robots, but we could use the instruments on her just as well."

Joe nodded. "That's probably our best option. Okay everyone; let's lift her. Make sure we don't jostle her spine, just in case."

Joe, organizing things, held up her head as they moved her. To his surprise, he felt a small metallic knob at the back of her head.

* * *

"Ready, Andromon?" Joe asked.

"It should be in working order," Andromon replied. "Activating x-ray."

Joe watched as an odd looking device scanned Sora, displaying her skeleton up on a view screen. Joe took a careful look at it, furrowing his brow.

"I can display the picture in three dimensions, if that would assist you," Andromon suggested.

"Good plan," Joe said. "Let's see it." The display came up and Joe studied it for a moment, intently looking at every bone.

"Well?" Tai asked.

"Well, the good news is nothing's broken, which means she's probably not been seriously injured," Joe said. "The bad news is that there's something else here and I have no idea what it is."

Joe went over to Sora and lifted up her head for everyone to see. There, imbedded in the back of her head was a small, metal knob. Yolei flinched. Izzy came in for a closer look.

"Fascinating," Izzy said. "It appears to be a machine of some sort, although I've never seen one like it. Andromon, could you scan it?"

Andromon complied, using his optic sensors to see things that the others couldn't. "Analyzing…" he said. A moment later he said, "It appears to be some kind of artificial neurotransmitter. It may be disrupting Sora's consciousness."

"Well, then, maybe if I can loosen it…" Joe knelt down and touched the object, intending to get a closer look at it. To his and everyone else's surprise, a jolt of electricity shot up Joe's arm, knocking him backwards.

"Joe, are you all right?" Tai asked his friend, helping him up.

"Yeah, fine," Joe said, wincing a little. "What was that?"

"My guess is that it's some kind of security system," Izzy hypothesized.

"You mean, like a way to keep us from taking it off?" Cody asked.

"Precisely," Izzy replied. "We'll need to run some tests and figure out some way to disable it without hurting us or Sora in the process."

"Well, I think I know how we can help Sora," Davis spoke up. "By finding Ken and making him tell us what he did to her."

"You think that the Digimon Emperor did this?" TK asked.

"Who else?" Davis shrugged. "I mean, who else is smart enough to come up with some lousy machine like that anyway? And who else would want to hurt Sora? Everyone likes her. The only person who'd do anything to her would be Ken. I say we find him and force him to tell us what he did!"

"He makes a good case," said Yolei. "I'm in!"

"Me too," Cody said.

Kari thought for a second and then she too nodded her assent. TK likewise stepped forward.

"Hold on," Tai said. "What about the folks back home? It's getting late. We'll need to make sure no one gets worried or suspicious or something."

"So, we'll send someone back to cover for us," TK said. He looked over at Matt. Then everyone else did too.

"What?" Matt asked. Then, it dawned on him. "Why me?" he asked.

"Because you've done it before and done a good job of it," Tai said. "I should- I want to stay here with Sora."

"Okay," Matt said. "I'll just talk to everyone's families and tell them-" Matt stopped, his eyes growing wide. He remembered what happened last time. _Jun._

"OH NO!" Matt said, putting his hands up. "I'm not talking to Davis' sister again! No way!"

"Oh, come on," TK said. "Couldn't you just-"

"No! Nononononononono! NO! NO! NO!"

"Do it for Sora, Matt," TK cut in.

Matt was silent for moment, straightened himself out, and said, "Fine. I'll cover for you."

Everyone thanked Matt as he left to go find the TV set that would lead him back home. Shortly after him, the five young Digidestined left on their search for Ken. That left Joe, Izzy, and Tai to look after Sora. Andromon said he had to go secure the city, in case the storm got bad, but that he might return later if Izzy needed help running the equipment.

Tai watched Izzy and Joe as they worked together on helping Sora. Izzy was trying to use Full Metal City's technology to their advantage and Joe was using it to apply to medicine. Tai didn't understand a word of it and, eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

He awoke later to Izzy shaking him.

"What is it?" Tai asked. "Did you find anything?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," said Izzy. "We found something incredible."

Tai stood up from the chair he was sitting in.

"Uh, you may want to sit down for this, Tai," Joe suggested. Tai, puzzled, sat back down.

"Well, we got the machines here to run a brain scan on Sora to determine how the device attached to her head is affecting her neurologically," Izzy said. "You with me?"

"Yes," Tai said. "I think so."

"Okay," Izzy continued. "Now, we found that it's disabling her cerebellum, keeping her subdued. However, it's also relaying some kind of coded message to something inside her brain. When we checked, we found something astonishing. We found some kind of electric entity within her brain. It's as if there's another presence inside her head with her!"

"You mean, someone else is in Sora's head?" Tai asked, bewildered.

"Well, we aren't sure who or what it is, but yes, it appears to be at least somewhat sentient, since as soon as Joe and I detected it, it vanished, as if it was trying to escape detection. We believe that eliminating this foreign entity from Sora's mind is the key to shutting down the device that has rendered her helpless. The sooner we get rid of it, the better."

"So, you're going to perform brain surgery?" Tai asked, unbelieving that Joe could attempt such a thing.

Joe chuckled slightly. "No, I'm not going to operate. Well, not in the conventional sense, anyway."

Tai was more confused than ever. "What's he mean?" he asked Izzy.

Izzy tugged at his collar nervously, obviously preparing to drop the bomb on him. Tai sat back in his chair.

"We've found a way to create an electrical link directly inside Sora's brain," Izzy said. "Normally, it would be used on a mechanical digimon, accessing its computer like brain and allowing it to be adjusted. This would be done using another, similar digimon with functioning, usable knowledge. That is, put the other robot inside the first robot's head and have it say, 'Here is the right way to function.' From what I can tell, it is fairly successful. The problem here is that Sora's brain is much more complex and isn't as easily fixable as a computer. Do you understand what I'm getting at, Tai?"

Tai looked at him for a minute. "No," he said slowly.

Izzy wiped his brow and tried to think of how to tell him. Joe, picking up the slack, took over.

"Okay, Tai," said Joe. "Let's say that Sora lost her cat in a tree."

"Sora doesn't have a cat," Tai said.

"It's a rhetorical situation, Tai, now pay attention!" Joe exclaimed.

"Oh, okay," Tai said, trying to remember if he knew what "rhetorical" meant.

"Like I was saying: Sora has a cat stuck in her tree. She calls the fire department and they come and get the cat out of her tree and everyone's happy. Got that?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, now let's take that same situation, only let's pretend that you are the fire department, the cat is that artificial entity, and the tree is the depths of Sora's unconscious mind. Now do you understand?"

Tai looked at him for a minute. Then, he slowly nodded. "Oh, I see." Then his eyes widened as he _really _understood. "Whoa!" he yelled, jumping out of his chair. "You mean you want to put me inside Sora's brain?"

"Well, we tried to sugar coat it, but yes, that's basically what we mean," Joe said, smiling.

"We can hook you up to a machine that will transmit your conscious mind into hers," Izzy explained. "Once inside, you can search for that other alien mind and identify and possibly eradicate it."

"How would that even work?" Tai asked, astonished.

"Well, it would be a lot like getting downloaded to the Digiworld from Earth, actually," Izzy answered. "The world of Sora's mind would be visually represented and navigable just like any physical place. The downside is that you could see a variety of things in there that you'd have no way of anticipating as they were unique to Sora's mind."

"Don't you think this is kind of like… I don't know, violating her privacy or something?" Tai asked.

"Well, maybe," said Joe. "But if it helps Sora, it has to be done. You'd just have to mind your own business and not goof around once you were inside."

"And to be fair, Tai," Izzy said, "it doesn't necessarily have to be you. We think you should do it because you simply know her better than either of us. Joe is needed here to monitor her condition and check to see where someone was in her brain. I confess, I have no knowledge of the brain's anatomy and Joe would simply be the better choice to monitor that. However, I know Sora fairly well also, and my knowledge of psychology might help as well. The only thing is, I'd have to train you to monitor me personally and see to it that I get connected and disconnected safely. It has to be done one way or the other, Tai, and if you say no, then I'll go instead."

Tai looked down, contemplating carefully his options and the situation on the whole.

"You really think that sending me gives her the best chance of surviving?" Tai asked.

Izzy nodded.

"Then I'll do it."

* * *

Tai found himself laid out on a metallic table, a curving, glowing pink visor suspended about six inches over his head.

"So, what does this thing do anyway, Izzy?" he asked.

"This will upload your consciousness and put it in Sora's basically," Izzy said. He pressed a few buttons on a computer next to Sora's table and a buzz was heard. "The link to her mind is ready. How are her vitals, Joe?"

"She seems fine," Joe said. "Vitals are good and her condition is stable."

"Okay," Izzy said. He then walked over to Tai. "How do you feel, Tai?" he asked.

"Nervous, actually," he said.

"Don't be," Izzy said, smiling. "You're the brave one and the braver you are, the better off you are. Now, let me brief you before we send you in.

"Once inside, you are going to be surrounded by a world of Sora's creation. It will look different in different places, but it shouldn't be anything too weird. Sora's a down to earth person and she ought to have a fairly rational mind. If you see anything that looks like it's alive, that's an active part of her mind, part of her personality that is important to her function. I'd advise you not to anger or contradict or fight any of these beings, since they are capable of controlling the whole world you will be in. They can be extremely dangerous, Tai."

"You mean, I could get killed?" Tai asked.

"No," said Izzy. "However, if you suffer severe trauma, you could fry your nervous system and end up a vegetable."

"Oh, that's comforting!" Tai said.

"That's a worst case scenario," Izzy dismissed. "I've hooked up a mechanism that will allow me to communicate with you at all times, see what you see, and basically be your guide. You should be fine. Even so, don't take risks. If Sora doesn't like you in her head, she'll show no mercy. Like I was saying about animate objects in her mind, keep your eyes out for anyone that looks out of place. In all likelihood, that is the invader and you'll have to track it and find some way to eliminate it. Perhaps, if you're lucky, Sora will be made aware of the intruding presence and extract it herself. Still, the entity is hiding itself well and you'll have to search hard to find it."

Tai nodded. "Okay. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Good," Izzy said, stepping away. "Is Sora still stable, Joe?"

"She's fine," Joe said. "Although I don't know how anyone could be 'fine' when they're about to have _you_ put inside their head, Tai," he joked.

Tai chuckled. "Just do your job and I'll do mine, Dr. Kido," he said.

"Preparing to upload," Izzy commented. "Okay, I just have to press this button and the link should be completed. Tai?"

"Yeah?" Tai asked.

"Brace yourself. And remember to think happy thoughts."

**To be continued…**


	2. Is There Anybody In There?

**Behind Your Eyes, Part 2**

**"Is There Anybody In There?"**

_Hello,_

_Is there anybody in there?_

_Just nod if you can hear me._

_Is there anyone at home?_

_Come on, now,_

_I hear you're feeling down._

_But I can ease your pain,_

_Get you on you feet again._

_Relax._

_I'll need some information first._

_Just the basic facts._

_Can you show me where it hurts?_

_-from "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd_

Davis and the others trudged through the woods. They had heard from some reputable Otamamon that the Digimon Emperor was setting up a new spire a few miles away. That was good news and Davis should have been eager to find him and make him pay once and for all.

He should have been. But he wasn't. Instead, he was depressed.

Veemon noticed it, but Davis's stern eyes told him that he wasn't in a talking mood at the moment, so he let it slide for now.

Two things were eating him, actually. The first was what Sora had said to him. That Kari was, in all likelihood, unimpressed with his heroics and thought of him as a joke. That was typical, though, he was used to taking a few smart aleck remarks from the others. What he wasn't used to was getting yelled at by Tai. After all, there were few people that Davis looked up to more, and Tai's disapproval stung him hard. Not that he could argue with it. Tai was right; it had been his responsibility as a friend, a teammate, and a Digidestined to keep Sora protected, and he'd blown it. In Davis' mind, the only way to redeem himself was to punish whoever had hurt Sora himself.

"Davis!" TK yelled at him.

"What?" Davis snapped.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine. Why?" Davis replied dismissively.

"Well, Kari just called your name and you didn't even turn around," TK said. "And when you don't respond to Kari, there's definitely something on your mind."

Davis shook his head and let out a sigh. "You're right," he said. "I'm just feeling a little bummed. I'll be fine."

"Seriously, Davis, what's on your mind?" Cody asked. "If you talk about it, you're bound to feel better."

"I'll feel better when we find Ken and kick his evil genius butt!" Davis said.

"Remember, Davis," Kari said. "We're just trying to find a way to help Sora. That's the most important thing right now."

"Yeah, I know," Davis said. "But hey, if we can do both, all the better!" he added.

* * *

"Brace yourself," Izzy warned. "And remember to think happy thoughts." And with that, he pressed the button that would put Tai's mind inside of Sora's.

At first, there was only a curious tingling sensation. It was momentary, but it caused Tai's vision to blur as the metal laboratory and the instruments and Joe and Izzy all began to melt into shapeless, indefinite blobs. Then, it all went black.

He tried to gasp, but it was as if he had no lungs, no mouth, no body. Then, there was a flash of color: reds, pinks, oranges, blues, and bizarre mixtures of them in streaming tie-dyed swirls that rushed past him like speeding cars. There was a buzzing sound and a ring that slowly swelled as he came closer to whatever it was he was approaching. Then, there was a piercing white light that consumed his whole being, inside and out, taking over his senses. And then, once again, there was blackness.

Tai sucked in a deep breath. He looked down at his hand and moved it. He took a look at himself. Despite the fact that he felt like he'd been strapped to the front of a roller coaster and put inside a blender, he seemed okay, if a little disoriented.

"Tai?" Izzy's voice asked from nowhere. "Tai, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Izzy, I can hear you," Tai said. "I can't see you, though."

"You're not supposed to," said Izzy. "I've rigged a connection that allows me to put my communications directly into your consciousness, so I can keep in touch with you, hear what you hear. I've also linked to your visual senses, so I can see anything you can."

"That's great, Izzy," said Tai. "So where am I?"

"Sora's unconscious mind, of course," Izzy replied.

"I didn't expect it to be so dark," Tai said.

"Well, neither did I," said Izzy. "But then, we didn't know what to expect. You'll probably see more eventually, the further you delve into here mind."

"Hold on, Izzy!" Tai said. "I hear something."

The two of them strained to listen. Tai stared off into the implacable shadows surrounding him. There was a small sound that he could just make out.

It was the sound of footsteps. They were getting closer.

* * *

Matt stood in a telephone booth on a quiet street in Tokyo. He'd already called the Kamiya's, his mom's, the Inoue's, the Hida's, the Kido's, and Sora's mom. He'd told them all that their children were listening to some new songs he'd written and that they'd be home later on that night. That only left one more household to call: the Motomiya's.

_Jun._

Matt shivered. His wallet was still recovering from the expensive restaurant she'd blackmailed him into taking her to. He would have to handle this delicately.

He picked up the phone and dialed. It rang twice before it was picked up.

_Okay, _Matt thought. _If it's Davis' parents, I'll give them the same story. If it's Jun, I'll go with plan B._

"Hello?" answered Jun.

_Crud, _Matt thought.

"Hello? Hello?"

"Uh, hello," Matt said, disguising his voice to make it sound raspy and deep. "I'm on Davis' soccer team. He wanted me to call his house and let you know that he's coming to watch my team play a game, so he won't be home for a while."

Jun was silent. _Man, I sound like Tony Danza, _Matt thought.

"Who is this?" she asked.

"Huh?" Matt asked.

"What's your name?"

"My name?" Matt panicked. He hadn't thought about coming up with a fake name. He needed one immediately, though. So, faced with impending disaster he finally gave the following answer:

"Ash Ketcham."

"Ash Ketcham?" Jun asked.

Matt swallowed. He was starting to sweat. "Yes, that's right."

"Oh, okay, Ash," Jun said. "Just make sure Davis gets home safe, okay?"

"Sure thing," Matt said. He began to hang up.

"Oh, one more thing," Jun said.

"Yeah?" Matt said, relaxing.

"You can pick me up at seven tomorrow, Matt. I hope you like Italian food."

"What? But how-?"

"Bye!" _Click._

Matt stood there silently, looking at the phone, his head hung in defeat. He could have cried. He really could.

Finally, he hung up the phone and began to walk back to the gateway. On the way back, he mentally wrote an autobiographical new song and he was considering putting it down on paper when he got the chance. It was called "Yenless Yamato."

* * *

The footsteps were coming up on Tai quickly now. They sounded rapid, like someone running. The staccato rhythm also had a lightness to it, making it sound like he was being approached by something very small. Still, Tai felt it was best to be on his guard and he prepared himself for anything.

Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

"Tai!" screamed a joyful little girl that exploded from the shadows. With astonishing speed, she ran up to Tai and leapt up onto him, hanging around his neck. Tai staggered back as she clung to him.

He looked down at the bright-eyed girl. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sora?" he asked. It looked like her. The girl had the same face, the same eyes, and the same red hair, but she looked like she was only five and she was wearing what looked to be pink pajamas. "Sora, is that you?" he repeated, completely puzzled.

"Of course it is, silly!" the girl replied. "And I'm so happy to see you I could burst!" The girl then began to plant big sloppy kisses all over his face. It took some effort to pry her off.

"Okay, Sora," Tai said, talking to her like he would any five year old. "Listen, I'm here to help you. Can you tell me if anything weird has been going on?"

"No, I don't think so," she replied, frowning, scrunching her face up tightly.

"Well, can you show me around then?" Tai asked, setting her down.

"Okay!" the girl cried happily. "But first, I want to tell you something."

"What?" Tai asked.

"It's a secret!" the girl giggled mischievously.

"Well, you can tell me," Tai encouraged.

"Okay," the girl said, taking a deep breath. "Tai, I-"

The girl was cut off as a soccer ball struck Tai in the face. Tai shook his head and looked around and saw that he was now standing on a soccer field. He stood at one end of the field, and on the other…

"Sora?" Tai asked, not believing his eyes.

There stood Sora, but she still looked younger. She looked like she did when she was eleven, when she had first ventured into the Digiworld. She was wearing the same yellow shirt, red gloves, and blue hat that she had become known for. But her eyes were hard and unwelcoming. Tai noticed that, even more surprising, the five-year-old Sora that he had met a moment ago was hiding behind the older Sora's leg, peeking out at him. The older Sora appeared to be protecting her.

"Sora, listen," Tai began, walking towards them.

"Sorry, but the little one's got a big mouth," the older Sora said. "You have to leave now. We're not sharing any secrets today."

"Sora, wait-"

But Sora didn't wait. Instead, she produced a soccer ball, seemingly from nowhere, and kicked it at him. The ball seemed to grow larger as it flew towards him. It was then that Tai realized it _was_ growing larger. All he could do was yell as a seven foot soccer ball slammed into him and carried him for what seemed like miles. When he finally landed, he looked up and saw that both Soras were gone.

"Tai, are you all right?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tai grunted, getting up. "What just happened?"

"I can tell you, but it'll mean me giving you a crash course in psychology," said Izzy. "Do you still want me to tell you?"

"I've got to know what I'm dealing with, Izzy," Tai said. "So why were there two Soras?"

* * *

"Your turn, TK," Davis said, stretching. "Your letter is K."

"I'm going to the picnic and I'm bringing apple pie, bananas, coconuts, deviled eggs…" TK listed.

Kari smiled. It was good that they were able to laugh and still have a game. It gave her hope that things were going to turn out all right, for some reason. Davis, though still determined, was relaxing a little bit and having fun. Yolei was probably having the most fun with the game, since her experience in her family's store gave her a huge knowledge of food.

"…ham sandwiches, iced tea, jalapenos," TK listed, pausing for his letter, "and… Ken!"

"Ha! You lose, TB! Ken's not a food!" Davis laughed.

"He's not playing, Davis, look!" Yolei shouted, pointing. They all looked up to see Ken riding his trusty Airdramon, hovering menacingly above them.

"Well, hello there, kids," the Emperor said. "It's a genuine pleasure to see you all again."

"Oh really?" Cody asked doubtfully.

"Of course," he replied, grinning. "I'd like to have you destroyed as soon as possible, and now that I've found you, I can get started on it!"

"Enough talk, you egomaniac!" Davis shouted.

"Ooh, wow, you learned a multi-syllabic word!" Ken laughed. "This is getting serious!"

"Hey, I taught him that word!" Cody said. "And if you mess with him, you mess with me!"

Davis flushed with pride. "You're finished, Ken! Do it, guys!"

* * *

"Have you ever heard of Sigmund Freud, Tai?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, he was some kind of psychologist," Tai replied. He was listening with only mild interest. He was much more fascinated with his surroundings. It looked to him as if he was in some kind of castle. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of stone and it was lit by candles. For lack of anything better to do, he began to wander down the hallway. He noticed that every so often, he passed a door.

"He was _the _psychologist, to some," Izzy said. "He had a lot of things to say about the unconscious mind. And now that you're witnessing one firsthand, I think we're witnessing proof of some of his theories."

"Great," Tai said without enthusiasm.

"Don't be so dismissive, Tai, I'm trying to explain why it looked like you met two Soras," Izzy said.

"Okay, so what did this Freud guy say?"

"He believed that the subconscious mind was divided into three different parts. The Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id is the part of your subconscious that urges you to seek constant pleasure, acting without inhibition, doing whatever you like. It operates on the 'pleasure principle,' seeking nothing but happiness. Now, remember that toddler that looked like Sora?"

"Yeah," Tai answered.

"Her free, overly-affectionate, juvenile behavior seemed to match that description," Izzy explained. "I'd guess that young Sora represents Sora's Id."

"Well, what about the older one?" Tai asked.

"She cut off Id before she divulged whatever secret she was about to tell you," Izzy said. "She was protecting Id, in a way. This matches Freud's description of the Ego."

"Isn't having an ego when you're really selfish and stuff?" Tai asked.

"Not in this sense of the word. The Ego in this case means the part of mind that censors the id. As you grow older, the ego becomes stronger, stopping you from doing anything deemed socially unacceptable. It tries to keep the id happy, but at the appropriate time and in the appropriate place. I believe that the older Sora you saw was Sora's ego. Both Id and Ego are pieces of the whole Sora."

Tai nodded, impressed. "Okay, that is kind of interesting, but how does that help me?"

"Well, for one, now you ought to know what they look like and how to deal with them," Izzy said. "They might not listen to reason. They probably don't think you're the real Tai. They probably think of you as a representative of you."

"Come again?" Tai asked, confused.

"They think you're her thoughts of you," Izzy explained. "So be discreet. They're both very powerful and can toss you around like a doll if they want to."

"No problem," Tai said. Then, he paused. "Hey, Izzy," he began, "I thought you said there were three parts of her subconscious. What's the last one?"

"Oh, that would be the Superego," Izzy answered. "That's basically the part of your mind that not only considers possibilities, but considers what is morally right and wrong. So, say you want a candy bar. The ego would tell you that you _could _steal it, but the superego would remind you that you _shouldn't _steal it, since stealing is wrong. The fact that you haven't run into Sora's superego yet doesn't mean she doesn't have one. Just keep your eyes open and don't play around."

"Hey, I was just flattened by a giant soccer ball," Tai said defensively, "do you think I'm playing games?"

"Just so you know," Izzy said, chuckling.

* * *

Matt trudged back towards Full Metal City. He was still in a rotten mood, but he told himself that wasn't important at the moment. The important thing was that everyone got taken care of. And sometimes that meant you had to take one for the team.

Even if it meant going on a date with Davis' nutcase sister.

"Matt?" a voice growled.

Matt spun around and, to his surprise, found Garurumon standing there.

"Garurumon?" Matt asked, running over to him. "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to guarding your area from the Emperor."

"I did, but then I caught wind of what was going on," the huge wolf answered. "Your brother and the rest of the young Digidestined are heading straight toward the Emperor. He's expecting them and I'll bet he's prepared for them."

"You think we should find them?" Matt asked. "What about Tai and Sora and the others?"

"They should be fine for now," Garurumon said. "But the rest may need our help."

Matt nodded. Climbing onto Garurumon's back, the two of them took off to find their imperiled friends.

* * *

"Izzy, take a look at this," Joe said in the laboratory.

"What is it?" Izzy asked curiously.

"I'm detecting an electrical signal in Sora's brain on the scanner," Joe said, pointing to the screen.

"Is it the entity?"

"No, it doesn't match the invader we detected earlier. Based on my readings, I'd say it's Tai!"

"What's going on out there?" Tai's voice asked over Izzy's headphones. Izzy was listening to Tai by accessing his own senses and putting it through some headphones. In addition, he'd also attached a microphone to talk to him. Finally, he wore a transparent visor that let him see through Tai's eyes while still letting him be aware of what was going on in the lab.

"Joe thinks he knows where you are in Sora's brain," Izzy said excitedly. "This might help us narrow down our search!"

"It looks like he's in her occipital lobe," Joe said.

"Okay," Izzy said. Then there was a pause.

"You don't know what that means, do you?" Joe asked, smirking.

Izzy made a face. "No," he said begrudgingly.

"I always wanted to hear you say that," Joe laughed. "Anyway, it means he's entered the part of her brain that is responsible for processing visual stimuli, the part that sees. In fact, I'd like to try a little experiment…"

* * *

"Okay," Izzy's voice buzzed inside of Tai's head. "My screen can't see as well as you can personally. Do you see anything that looks like a screen or something?"

Tai looked around. He'd entered one of the doors on a whim and found himself in a small room with a couple of chairs, each one positioned in front of what looked like a large, perfectly circular portal, the kind one saw on boats.

"Well, there's a couple of windows, but I can't see anything," Tai said.

"Okay, I see them," Izzy said. "Sit in the left chair and watch the portal."

Tai did as he was told and watched the portal. At first there was nothing. Then, like a window shade being rolled, up, the blackness disappeared to reveal Joe looking down at him.

"Whoa!" Tai said. "Hey, I can see Joe!"

"Joe's out here, opening Sora's eye," Izzy explained. "This means that the things you see can represent the physical parts of Sora's brain."

Joe waved to him. Tai grinned and waved back. "Hi Joe!" Tai called.

"Uh, Tai? What are you doing?"

"Waving to Joe," Tai answered.

"He can't see you in there, Tai, it only works one way."

"Oh," Tai said, putting his arm down sheepishly.

* * *

"Fire rocket!"

"Rosetta stone!"

"Tempest wing!"

The attacks were aimed at a group of Tyrannomon that stood in front of them. Overhead, Ken surveyed the battle.

"They appear to be winning, master," Wormmon said at Ken's feet.

"They aren't winning anything," Ken chuckled. "I've got them just where I want them."

Behind the Digidestined, from the woods appeared a band of Woodmon, nearly two dozen of them.

"We've got company, guys!" TK said, noticing that they were now surrounded on both sides.

"Wood smash!" several of the Woodmon attacked, firing sharp splinters of wood at them.

"You guys ever been drilled for sap?" Digmon asked with a grin. "Gold rush!"

The drills hit there mark, disabling the ones at the front, destroying their dark rings and leaving them out cold. However, behind them were plenty more.

"We may be in trouble," Yolei remarked, noticing the sheer number of enemies confronting them.

"That's an understatement," Ken laughed. "You've got nowhere to run and no one to help you!"

A sudden flash of blue energy told him otherwise as Garurumon's howling blaster attack smashed through Woodmon, clearing most of them away.

"Matt!" TK exclaimed. "You made it back!"

"Sure did!" Matt said. "Now let's finish these guys off and ask that little rat about Sora!"

Ken, hearing the exchange, suddenly wore an expression of puzzlement that went unnoticed by those below him.

_Sora? _he thought. _The red-haired girl? I don't remember doing anything to her. What are those fools talking about?…_

* * *

"Okay, now where am I?" Tai asked. He'd gone through another doorway and found himself in a concert hall. It was elegant and had red carpeting. Above him was an ornate ceiling with an expensive chandelier. Most peculiar, though, were the hundreds of people sitting in the rows of seats, their eyes gazing with wonder at the front of the stage. They all wore fabulous tuxedoes and dresses and furs. On the stage, there was a sole figure playing the piano. Tai had to admit, it was beautiful music, but why was there a concert going on in Sora's head?

"Joe says you've entered Sora's frontal lobe, her pre-frontal area to be exact," Izzy said. "Apparently, this is the place where planning, thinking, imagination and overall personality come from. However, I'm not sure how that explains what you're seeing."

Tai seemed to go unnoticed as he walked past the concert-goers in his informal green uniform. He continued on up the aisle until he saw who was playing the piano.

It was Sora. She was wearing a sleek, black sequined dress that sparkled in the stage lights. She was wearing pearl earrings and white gloves as she effortlessly played beautiful, lilting melodies on the piano. Her face was solemn, dignified, and her eyes never left the keys. There was no music sheet.

"What is this, Izzy?" Tai asked in wonder.

"I don't know," Izzy replied, equally astounded.

Tai wasn't sure what to do, so he took a risk and climbed up onto the stage. No one seemed to notice. No one complained. No one yelled at him. He cautiously approached Sora, who sat still on her piano bench without acknowledging him.

"Tai, what are you doing?" Izzy hissed.

Tai ignored him. Instead, he opened his mouth to speak to Sora. He hesitated, thinking to himself that she'd never looked quite so beautiful as she did at that moment. Then, bracing himself, he said: "Hi, Sora."

"What are you doing up here, Tai?" Sora asked emotionlessly.

"Uh, saying hi?" Tai said uncertainly.

"You're not supposed to be here. And you're not supposed to be dressed like that. You're supposed to be in one place. The front row, with the others," Sora said matter-of-factly.

Tai looked down into the front row and noticed that all of the Digidestined were lined up in the front row, watching Sora play. The were all wearing their most elegant clothes. However, nothing could have prepared Tai for what he saw next: himself.

There he was. Another Tai, watching with adoration in the audience, wearing a red carnation and an expensive tuxedo, smiling brightly.

"Sora, that's not really me," Tai explained. "I'm the real Tai. Do you understand?"

"So, you mean you'd come to my concert dressed like that?" Sora asked, her voice accusing. "You wouldn't care that I'm a world famous concert pianist and you wouldn't care that I compose some of the world's most beautiful music?"

"Sora, you can't play the piano."

Sora banged her fingers down on the keys, producing an ugly blast of notes, as if the music she was playing had suddenly died. Violently. Her face was angry and her teeth were gritted. She stood up and, without another word, ran off of the stage, leaving Tai all alone.

Tai looked at the audience, and they glared back at him.

"Well, she can't!" Tai said.

"In here she can!" shouted someone.

"Yeah, why don't you mind your own business?" yelled someone else.

"I was supposed to give her a bouquet!" the other Tai yelled at him. "If you want to be me, then stop standing there, looking stupid and go after her, you jerk!"

Tai was confused, but, facing the audience and himself, he did as he told himself and chased after Sora.

When he got to the backstage exit, he went through the door… and found himself on the sidelines of a tennis court.

"Izzy, what's happening?" Tai asked, looking around. The concert hall was nowhere in sight. Instead, there was a tremendous crowd surrounding the court. Looking around, Tai spotted Sora. She was at one end of the court, furiously swatting every ball that came her way.

"Sora?" Tai breathed. Tai had seen Sora play, and she was definitely good. But not _this _good. The Sora he was seeing now moved with unbelievable agility as she returned each volley with grace. With ease, she could spin around and land a perfect backhand. And finally, as the match became ever more furious, Sora slammed the ball with all her might and Tai watched as her opponent leapt for the ball and barely missed it.

The crowd cheered with joy and Sora raised her hands in victory. An announcer over a speaker system called out, "And that clenches it: Sora Takenouchi from Japan has just won Wimbledon! By jove she's done it!"

"Tai!" Sora exclaimed seeing him. "Did you see that? I just won Wimbledon! Aren't you happy for me?"

Tai went over to her. "Sora, listen to me," he said urgently. "This isn't real. None of this is."

The cheering crowd went silent. Sora scowled at him. The announcer said, "Oh dear. That was quite inappropriate."

"What?" Tai asked of nobody in general.

"Dear boy, you really are a bloody fool, aren't you?" the announcer remarked, sounding artificially British. "You invade this place you don't belong in, you've been contradicting yourself, and instead of being supportive, you feel the need to ruin everything. I say, you are becoming a nuisance. Pip-pip, cheerio!"

"Huh?" Tai asked confused.

Sora brought her racquet back. Then, without another word, she smashed Tai across the face with it. Tai spun around and fell, his face stinging. When he got up, the tennis court was gone. And in its place, was… the school gym.

Only it had been made to look like there was a dance going on. A disco ball reflected thousands of tiny points of light around the room and streamers were hung from the ceiling. Slow music was playing and people all around him were slow dancing.

"Tai, if you see Sora this time, run," Izzy advised. "Don't let her see you, just get out of there and I'll explain things later."

"You got it!" Tai said, and turned to look for an exit… and saw Sora coming up to him.

"Oh, _no," _Izzy said. Tai gulped. That didn't sound to encouraging.

"Hello, Tai," Sora said. "Would you like to dance?"

Sora was now wearing a white, sleeveless satin dress. On her wrist was a dainty corsage. Around her neck was small gold chain. She had white high-heeled shoes and was wearing her hair pinned back stylishly.

Tai gulped. "Uh, sure," he said. He took her hand in his and put his other hand around her at her lower back. Sora meshed her fingers with his and put her hand at his upper back. And the two of them danced, swaying gently with the soft music that played.

"Tai, you've got to be careful," Izzy said. "Try to keep her happy until she lets you go."

"Tai," Sora said, looking into his eyes, "I'm really having a nice time."

"Me too," Tai said. It was partially true. This was nice, but he couldn't get over his nagging feeling of unease. He told himself this wasn't real, that it was some bizarre illusion, and that while he was dancing with her, something else was trying to hurt her. If he didn't find it soon, she wasn't going to make it. But she didn't know or care. All she wanted was to go through this slow dance.

"Okay, Tai, don't say anything, but listen carefully," Izzy said. "Joe and I believe that you've entered a portion of her mind that generates daydreams, fantasies, and the like. That concert pianist thing and the winning Wimbledon and this dance are a few of the fantasies she occasionally may have."

Tai chuckled in response. Sora rested her head on his shoulder.

"Don't get too cocky," Izzy said sternly. "She may have thousands of these, and you may only be significant in this one. Now find some way to get out of there quietly and find that invader."

Tai nodded. "Sora," he said, "can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Sora said, lifting her head. "What is it, Tai?"

"I've got something to tell you," he said.

"I have something to tell you, too," Sora said. A spotlight came down on the two of them and the rest of the dancers all seemed to vanish.

"Listen, Sora," Tai said. "This is important."

"Is it about me? Is it about us?" Sora asked eagerly.

"Well, yes," Tai said. The music swelled imperceptibly. "Sora, I think you're sick."

"Huh?" Sora asked puzzled. The music skipped.

"No! I didn't mean it like that!" Tai said, struggling. "I mean… uh, there's something wrong with your head!"

"My head?" Sora asked, confused, her hands flying to her head. "What's wrong with it? Is it a weird shape?" The music became static.

"No, it's not that! I, er, I mean-there's something wrong with your brain!"

The static went dead. There was silence as Sora, tears forming in her eyes, stared at Tai with a look of pure hurt and betrayal.

"Sora, I-"

But Sora was not there. She had faded into the shadows, leaving Tai alone in the ever-dimming spotlight. He was alone.

"Smooth move, Tai," Izzy said.

"Oh, shut up, Izzy!" Tai yelled. "I tried my best! You aren't in here, I am! You couldn't have done any better!"

Izzy was silent. Then, finally, he said, "You're right, Tai. Look, just get out of there and check somewhere else."

"Fine," Tai said.

"No, things aren't fine," said a voice. Tai spun around and saw a figure emerging from the shadows. Tai watched and saw that it was not Sora this time, but…

"Mrs. Takenouchi?" Tai asked, puzzled. It was indeed. It was Sora's mother.

"You've violated these areas, disrupting things that were once in good condition," she said. "Now, I see that you're complicating things. I'll have to have you quieted."

"Run, Tai!" Izzy said. He didn't need to be told twice. He took off running as fast as he could and only stopped when the ground suddenly gave way underneath him and he slid down into a long tube. After sliding for what seemed like a full minute, he landed roughly in a new place altogether.

"Are you okay, Tai?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, fine," Tai said. "I just feel like I'm going to be sick." And with that, he laid down to catch his breath.

"It's a good thing you got out of there," Izzy said. "That, I believe, was Sora's superego. Since she believes that you represent thoughts about you, it is likely that Superego has deemed you to be improper and disruptive thoughts. I'm guessing that what 'quieting' means for normal thoughts would be very harmful to you. Avoid her at all costs."

"No problem," Tai gasped.

* * *

"Okay, that's the last of them!" Kari said as the last dark ring fell off the last incapacitated digimon.

"Perfecto! We hardly broke a sweat with that one!" Yolei declared.

"And now that we've won," Davis said, turning his eyes upward to Ken atop his Airdramon, "why don't you get talking, Ken! What did you do to Sora?"

"First of all, I told you, call me Digimon Emperor!" he snarled. "And second, what are you talking about?"

"We know you're behind it!" Matt said.

"You've gone too far, this time!" Cody said.

"You idiots!" the Emperor bellowed. "If I did do anything to one of your worthless friends, don't you think I'd be happy to take credit for it?"

The six of them and their digimon all looked to each other. He had a point. Ken wasn't exactly modest when it came to doing something cruel and diabolical.

"Well, if you didn't hurt Sora," Davis said, "then who did?"

"I'm sure I don't know," the Emperor said, "but I'd like to meet him, so I could thank him for the service he's done me."

_"Very well,"_ rumbled a voice. All of them turned their heads to see a new figure rising from the trees. And it looked decidedly unfriendly.

* * *

"Izzy, where am I?" Tai asked. He was surrounded by machines. Gears, pipes, wires, dials, meters, and devices of all kinds hummed and whirred with electricity.

"According to Joe, this would be the cerebellum," Izzy said. "This controls muscle movement, balance… this is the place that's been disabled by the device at the back of her head."

"Great," Tai said. "So, what am I doing here?"

"That's a good question," said a voice. "What _are _you doing here?"

Tai looked for the origin of the voice and saw a bizarre looking creature partially hidden from view within the machinery.

"Who are you?" Tai asked. The creature emerged, showing itself.

The thing was made entirely out of metal. Its head was tall and bulbous, and wires were strung from it to its body. It had glowing green electric eyes and a silvery neck. Its body was a hard, metal shell and at each hip was a device that Tai correctly guessed were some kind of device that helped it to hover. For legs and arms, it had several long, hydraulic metal tentacles. Tai also noted that in one of its left tentacles was a pointed drill-like device. In one of its right tentacles was device that was obviously some type of gun.

"Who are you?" the creature asked, its voice deep, electrical and menacing.

"Tai, we're picking up the other presence near you," Izzy said. "That thing we're seeing must be the intruder!"

"You're the one that did this to Sora!" Tai shouted.

"So, you've found some way inside her mind as well," the creature said calmly. "Oh well. Your feeble attempt to remove me is a minor setback, at best."

"Why are you trying to hurt Sora?" Tai demanded.

"Oh, dear boy, I'm doing nothing of the sort," the creature said. "This girl is very important to me, you can be certain of that. I need her, should I make one of my rare miscalculations and fail to succeed elsewhere."

"What are you talking about?" Tai asked.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about," the creature said. With that, he lunged at Tai and wrapped his tentacles around his feet, lifting him up into the air easily.

"Put me down!" Tai demanded, struggling.

"Of course," said the thing. "And I have just the right place." It went over to a small hatch in the floor and opened it with two of its lower tentacles. Tai peered down the now open hole and saw that it was completely black below.

"This mind isn't big enough for the two of us!" the creature said, and it cast Tai deep into the blackness and watched as he fell. Tai screamed as he tumbled deeper into the icy black nothingness… until his scream was no more than the ghost of an echo.

**To be continued…**


	3. Deeper and Deeper

**Behind Your Eyes, Part 3**

**"Deeper and Deeper"**

_Talk to me baby, I want to sleep at night._

_My heart is heavy, it's weighed down by the night._

_And now I'm lonely, I want to see the light_

_So deep within you._

**_-From "So Deep Within You," by the Moody Blues_**

_And the sound we make together_

_Is the music to the story in your eyes._

_It's been shining down upon me now, __I realize._

**_-From "The Story In Your Eyes," by the Moody Blues_**

"There's no sign of him anywhere?" Izzy asked.

"No, I can't find him on the scanner at all," Joe said, frantically conducting his search. "Tai's signature should show up somewhere, but there's no sign of it. Any luck with the visor or the earphones?"

"Negative," Izzy said. "They're both dead. I've lost complete visual and audio contact with Tai."

Joe looked down. "Well, I guess we'll have to pull him out, then," Joe said.

"We can't do that, Joe," Izzy said, shaking his head. "If he's pulled out of there without being prepared for it, the sudden re-transference of his mind back into his own brain could be traumatic."

"So he could go into shock…"

"Or worse."

Both of them were silent.

"Well, what about that guy Tai ran into?" Joe finally asked, breaking the silence.

"The creature was definitely not part of Sora's psyche," said Izzy. "Before transmission was cut, I got a good look at him. It's got to be the invader. It appears to be sentient, and it's also intelligent. Whatever it did to Tai, he's become completely helpless."

"There is danger?" asked a voice from behind them. The two turned to see Andromon standing in the doorway. "Is there any way I can assist you?" he asked.

"Andromon!" Izzy said. "Maybe. We've found the intruder, but we need to identify it and see if we can figure out how to defeat it."

"I have a program loaded into my circuitry," Andromon said, connecting himself to one of the computers. "It will help us identify this life form, if it is known to us."

"Okay, it was six to six and a half feet tall, made out of metal, had two gun shaped weapons, a lot of tentacles, glowing eyes-"

"Is this the creature you saw?" Andromon asked.

Izzy and Joe gaped at the fearsome creature displayed before them on the screen. "Yes, that's it!" Izzy exclaimed.

Joe swallowed. He'd never seen the thing before and now that he saw it clearly it was obvious that this creature was indeed dangerous.

"I have heard of this digimon," Andromon said gravely. "When I came to Full Metal City, I heard stories of a digimon that was gifted with extraordinary intellect. He had formulated many theories on the makeup of digimon as data-based beings. It became his hypothesis that by altering one's own digital information, they could change themselves, digivolving with greater ease. However, his experiments were conducted on himself and, in the process of easing digivolution for all digimon, a noble cause indeed, his data was corrupted, and when he digivolved he became a very malignant Virus digimon. At the mega level, he became convinced that he was the pinnacle of digivolution, the supreme being that all digimon must bow down to and worship. He developed two main weapons. The first was based on his knowledge of the mind, a device that can destroy an opponent's brain with one shot, known as Brain Rupture. The second attack he developed to eradicate large areas of enemies or enemy land. Convinced that, if he wished, he could use it to scorch all life from the face of the Digiworld, he deemed it the Planetary Destoyer. The cyborg digimon left the city to conquer other areas, but that occurred at the same time as when the Dark Masters first struck. He vanished and it was believed that he had been destroyed. Now it appears that he has survived."

"Well," Joe asked, "who is he?"

* * *

"I am Evamon!" the creature proclaimed.

"What?" Davis asked. "Hey, have any of you guys ever heard of this guy?"

"No, he's new to me," Halsemon replied.

"Never heard of him," said Digmon.

"Neither have I," said Ken, "and I've been studying nearly every kind of digimon on the planet. What do you want?"

"To destroy the Digidestined," said Evamon.

"Well," Ken said, smiling, "you're my kind of-"

"Starting with you, Digimon Emperor!" he bellowed, drawing the weapon on its left. "Brain Rupture!" he fired.

A thin red beam aimed right at Ken's head shot forward.

"Look out, master!" Wormmon shouted, shoving Ken out of the way… which caused both of them to fall from the Airdramon's head they were riding into a nearby tree.

The beam hit the Airdramon right between the eyes. It gave a short, startled cry as its head jerked back. It then crashed to the ground and dissolved as it was deleted.

"No!" Kari cried, seeing the creature's destruction. "Nefertimon!"

"I'll take out this evil iron octopus!" Nefertimon said, taking to the sky.

"I'm right behind you!" Flamedramon said, leaping into the air.

Evamon's emotionless face merely watched as they attacked. He made no attempt to move.

"Rosetta Stone!" Nefertimon attacked. The stones merely ricocheted off Evamon's metal hull.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamdramon attacked, but the fireballs harmlessly splashed off the digimon, not even phasing him.

"That was pathetic," Evamon said. One of his tentacles caught Flamedramon in mid-air and, winding up and spinning him like a fan, flung him into Nefertimon with incredible force. Both were knocked out of the air and they de-digivolved, their armor returning to Davis and Kari.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Evamon asked. "I hope not. I'm only mildly amused."

"Amuse _this_!" Digmon shouted. "Gold rush!"

"Star Shower!"

"Tempest Wing!"

"Howling Blaster!"

The smoke cleared from the ferocious four attacks, but Evamon still stood, completely unharmed by them.

"You had your chance to prove yourselves worthy opponents," Evimon said, "and you failed miserably. Now, behold the power of perfection!" He leveled the gun in his right hand at the group.

"Run!" Yolei cried, taking off. Those who hadn't already come up with that strategy followed her.

"Planetary Destoyer!" Evamon roared as his gun fired a condensed blue blast of energy. As it hit the ground, the energy exploded outward with unbelievable force, obliterating everything within a fifty foot radius. Trees and bushes in that small area instantly became splinters as a huge gaping crater was blasted into the ground.

Cody, who was the furthest back, felt himself lifted into the air from the sheer force of the blast, flying several feet forward and slamming into the ground, where he tumbled and rolled several times before coming to a complete stop.

"Cody!" a familiar voice called weakly. "Are you all right?"

Cody looked up to see Armadillomon. "You de-digivolved?" he asked, surprised that he was no longer Digmon.

"Yeah, the blast caught me'n the others off guard," he said.

Cody got up and saw that everyone was okay, although a bit disoriented.

"We're in trouble," Matt said, helping Gabumon get up.

"That's the understatement of the year," said Davis, wiping grass and dirt off his face.

Just then, there was a roar behind them. They turned to see several more Airdramon attacking Evamon, who was trying to swat them with his tentacles, but failing as they kept their distance.

"What are they doing?" TK asked.

"Precisely what I told them to," Ken said, walking into the clearing. "That ought to keep him busy for a while." Another Airdramon landed right behind him.

Davis clenched his fists. "Hey, you-"

"Shut up and get on, you worthless worms," Ken said.

"You know, I'm a worm, master, remember?" asked Wormmon, who was slightly offended.

"I'm aware. That's why I said it," Ken said.

"What makes you think we'll go anywhere with you?" asked Matt.

"Can we anyway?" Yolei whispered hopefully, causing the others to roll their eyes.

"If you don't come with me," the Emperor said, "he'll kill you. As much as I would love to see that, you're more use to me in defending against him. Get on and we can work towards defeating him. Or stay and be vaporized. Your choice."

The Digidestined looked at each other, then reluctantly got on the Airdramon's back. It took off and carried them away from Evamon, who was still busy swatting Airdramon out the sky.

* * *

"Where… where am I?" Tai asked of the darkness. The only answer was the howl of the freezing wind.

Slowly, Tai began to see the things around him. All around him were trees. Dead, skeletal trees that stood out, gnarled and twisted, from the ground, no leaves at all on their bare branches. The forest went off into endless blackness. The wind blew harder, causing the trees to creak as they bent.

Then, Tai heard another noise. It was the low, guttural growl of some unseen creature. Tai strained to listen, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He anxiously glanced around, but he couldn't see anything. Yet he could still hear it. Getting closer.

He started breathing faster as he began to sweat. Still he stood his ground. "Is there anyone there?" he asked, his voice sounding small. Just then, he felt a drop of liquid drip onto his neck from above. His hand went instantly to his neck, where he felt the wet, sticky substance that had fallen onto him. He got some on his fingers and he examined his hand to see what it was.

It was blood.

Tai gasped and took a step back. He wiped the blood off on his pants leg. He noticed that another drop of blood landed in the dirt near him. And then a few more drops. He looked up.

The trees were bleeding. Not profusely, but steadily, ever so slowly, blood flowed from the branches of all the trees, occasionally dripping in dark crimson on the ground as it came together into rich red streams that ran down the trunks to pool on the ground.

"Izzy?" Tai asked, trying to contain his fear. "Are you seeing this?"

He waited. There was no answer.

"Izzy?" Tai asked, getting very nervous now. "Izzy, are you there?"

_"Nowhere to run," _said a voice.

"Izzy?" Tai asked.

_"Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. No hope, no hope, all alone. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide…"_

The unseen voices chanted this over and over, never getting louder than a hissed whisper. A ball of dread built up in the pit of Tai's stomach. "Izzy… get me out of here. I have to get out of here. Now. Help me, get me out of here, please, Izzy!"

No response. None at all, save for the louder growl that came from somewhere in front of him.

And then, a pair of dull, glowing red eyes. And the shape of something huge and black. And the glint of something else in the faint, sickly pale light.

Teeth.

"Get me out of here!" Tai yelled, backing up, his fear coming freely now. "Izzy, get me out! Please! Help me! For crying out loud, Izzy, help!"

But there was no answer. And so, all Tai could do when the huge black beast charged at him was run, his eyes bleary with tears as he screamed in pure terror.

* * *

"What's wrong, Joe?" Izzy asked, standing back. Tai's body was shaking violently, his face distorted in what looked like pain.

"I think he might have gone into shock!" Joe said, furiously trying to determine what was wrong at the console. "Andromon, Izzy, hold him down before he hurts himself or accidently severs the connection! We've got to figure out what went wrong before he hyperventilates!"

"What could be causing this?" Izzy asked.

"Something traumatic," Joe answered. "Whatever he's seen in there, it's literally scaring him to death!"

"If only I could connect to him!" Izzy said.

"Perhaps you can," Andromon said. Momentarily leaving Tai's side, he went to a console and began rapidly typing commands. "I've re-routed power from other parts of the city to this facility. Try to re-establish contact."

Izzy put on the visor once again and, at first, saw only static. Then, slowly, the picture cleared up, revealing the sight of trees flashing past him. He heard a voice, but it wasn't Tai. It was someone or something chanting, _"Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. No hope, no hope, all alone."_

"Tai!" Izzy shouted. "Can you hear me?"

* * *

"Izzy?" Tai asked between breaths. "Where were you? Get me out of here!"

"What? Tai, what's happening?"

"Listen, I'm in the middle of some dark woods, the trees are bleeding, I'm being chased by some huge black thing and I'm scared out of mind, so hurry up and help me!"

Izzy listened and watched the images on his visor. He was puzzled and he thought to himself, _What does this mean? Could it be…_

"Izzy?" Tai asked again, his legs getting numb from running, the sound of the beast pursuing him getting ever closer.

"Tai, listen," Izzy said. "What you're seeing are very instinctual fears. These kinds of things are universal fears that nearly everyone has."

"What are you talking about?" Tai asked.

"We can't find your signal on the scanner, Tai. I have a theory. Have you ever heard of a psychiatrist named Carl Jung?"

"What does this have to do with anything? Get me out of here!" Tai shouted desperately.

"Hold on, Tai! If we pull you out, there's no telling how long it will take to find that creature again. If you listen to me and do what I tell you to, you'll be fine."

"Okay, fine, what do I do?" Tai asked.

"Stop," Izzy said.

"Huh?" Tai asked incredulous.

"Nothing there can actually hurt you, Tai. That thing is only chasing you because you're running, so stop!"

Tai ran a little bit further, then, sucking in a deep breath, stopped abruptly, whirling around to face his pursuer. His eyes were clenched shut as he waited for the thing to strike.

But there was nothing. The fatal blow never came. He opened his eyes and saw the blood red eyes of the somehow shapeless creature staring at him from the darkness. It growled threateningly, but it made no move to attack.

"What…?" Tai asked, confused.

"Okay, Tai, here's your second psychology lesson," Izzy said. "Carl Jung used to be a friend and associate of Sigmund Freud. However, he later founded a different school of psychoanalysis. He believed the unconscious mind was divided into two parts: the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious contains all the unconscious thoughts unique to every individual person. You've been exploring Sora's personal unconscious."

"Okay, so?" Tai asked, getting impatient, resisting the urge to run.

"I'm getting there, just wait," Izzy said. "The collective unconscious is the entire unconscious mind of the whole human race. It contains instinctual fears, hopes, symbols, and generally everything that influences everyone's mind. Have you ever wondered why there are 3 musketeers, 3 little pigs, 3 bears that meet Goldilocks? Why the number 3 shows up so often in the world? Some believe that the number 3 is important to the collective unconscious and manifests itself in society because of it."

"So, you're saying I'm not in Sora's personal unconscious anymore?" Tai asked.

"Precisely," Izzy said, happy that Tai was catching on. "That's why we can't find you on the scanner. You're no longer in Sora's mind. Somehow, you've been dropped into the universal mind shared between all people. You're both nowhere and everywhere. It's fascinating, actually."

"Yeah, but how do I get out?" Tai asked.

"Here's the cool part," Izzy said. "Since this is shared between everyone, it's technically your mind as well. So, just as Sora could do whatever she like in her mind, you can control this place."

Tai blinked. "Really?" he asked, smiling. "Okay, let's try it."

Tai looked at the beast hiding in the shadows and concentrated. In seconds, the red eyes were gone and the huge beast vanished. In its place was now a harmless brown puppy that came bounding out to meet Tai happily.

"Cool," Tai said, picking up the puppy. He then looked around at the gloomy forest and heard the annoying voice chanting and said, "This stuff's gotta go."

With a wave of his hand, the forest, blackness, voices and blood all vanished like a puff of smoke. The sky turned blue and bare ground sprouted thick, green grass, wildflowers, and a little stream ran nearby. The cold wind became a warm, pleasant breeze.

"Well, that was creative," Izzy said. "Now, see if you can get back to Sora's mind."

"How do I do that?" Tai asked.

"Beats me, it's your world right now."

"Okay…" Tai said, thinking.

"Going up, sir?" a voice said. Tai turned to see an elevator in the middle of the clearing. An operator wearing a red suit with brass buttons stood there smiling.

"Uh, sure," Tai said, wondering where in his mind this came from.

"Where to?" the operator asked as Tai set down the puppy and walked into the elevator.

"Uh, Sora's unconscious mind?" Tai asked.

"Certainly, sir." The operator pulled a lever and the doors slid shut. The elevator hummed and rattled for a moment, then the doors slid open to reveal the hallway Tai had found himself in earlier. "Your floor, sir," the operator said.

"Thanks," Tai said, stepping out. He turned to look behind him, but he found the elevator had vanished.

"Weird, huh, Izzy?" Tai said. But Izzy said nothing. "Izzy?" he asked again.

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He whirled around to see Ego glaring at him. "You've been causing a lot of trouble, and now it's time you paid for it."

Tai looked and saw that his hands were now cuffed, as were his feet.

"Izzy?" Tai asked quietly. But no one was there.

* * *

"We lost contact," Izzy said. "Evamon must be blocking us out. Can we get any more power, Andromon?"

"No, any more would cause a power surge," Andromon said.

"So, what do we do?" Joe asked. "You already said we can't pull him out without telling him first, but he's in trouble without us."

"I don't know," Izzy said. "We've got to get the message to him about Evamon and what he needs to do to stop him. Unfortunately, I can't think of how to do that."

"Well, can I help?" a familiar voice said. Izzy, Joe, and Andromon turned around to face the speaker.

Izzy smiled. "As a matter of fact, you might be just what we need," he said.

* * *

"Evamon's a mega digimon," Ken was saying, addressing a group of Tankmon. "That means he will certainly be powerful. Your job is to be the first line of defense when he arrives. Behind you, we'll have a few other soldiers ready to deal with him. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Emperor!" the Tankmon shouted in unison. As they all rumbled off to their battle stations, the Digidestined stood by watching.

"Don't you think we should try to free them or something?" Kari asked.

"I'd like to, Kari," Matt said, "but right now, we have to find some way to stop Evamon, and the best way to do it is to have Ken's soldiers fight. I can't do much more than watch, since Gabumon can't digivolve with the dark digivice around."

"We could tell Ken to shut it off," Davis suggested.

"But I wouldn't do it," Ken said, walking over. "I may need you, but I'm not stupid enough to let you get that powerful. I don't trust you that much."

"Well, what's the plan?" Cody asked, frowning, much like the others.

"We destroy Evamon, simple as that."

"We can't," Yolei said, "not until he tells us what he did to Sora."

"I really don't care about your friend any more than I care about any of you," Ken said. "You can help her some way later. I, for one, will show him no mercy. As long as he's alive, he's a threat to all of us."

As the humans were discussing strategy, the digimon were over having their own discussion.

"So, you're the Emperor's digimon?" Patamon asked Wormmon.

"Well, yes," Wormmon replied. He was a little nervous about being alone with these six other digimon, all of whom were technically his enemies. However, none of them acted particularly threatening, so he stayed.

"Don't you think it's cruel what he's doing to us digimon?" Gabumon asked.

"Ken is my master, and my best friend too," Wormmon said. "I'd do anything for him. Wouldn't you?"

Gabumon thought about that one. He recalled the time three years ago when Matt had turned on Tai and Gabumon promised to support him, even if it meant challenging Agumon to a fight. It might have been wrong, but if it helped Matt, he'd do it again in a heartbeat. He supposed Wormmon had a point.

"Ya know, that may be true," Veemon said, "but what about the way he treats you? Don't you think he ought to treat you with more respect?"

"I've never met anyone as smart or as talented as him. He's never been a failure at anything. He's got so much going for him and who does he get for a digimon? Me, that's who; a lowly Wormmon. I'm weak and a lousy fighter. He deserves a better digimon and he knows it. He'll respect me when he thinks I'm worth respecting. I'll just wait until I get the chance… and then I'll prove myself!"

"Wormmon!" Ken called. "Stop talking to them and get over here!"

"Coming, master!" Wormmon said, scurrying over to Ken.

"That boy's got issues," Armadillomon remarked.

"No kidding," Gatomon said.

Meanwhile, Ken was asking Wormmon, "Did you tell them anything?"

"No, nothing, Ken, er, Master!" he said.

"Good. Now let's get moving."

Wormmon began to follow him and he said, "Hey, how about when I pushed you ought of the way of Evamon's Brain Rupture attack? That was a pretty good move, wasn't it?"

"What do you want? A medal?" Ken asked harshly. Just then, an alarm sounded from over the hills in the east. "He's here," Ken said.

* * *

Tai couldn't believe what he was seeing. Moreover, he couldn't believe he was part of it.

He was in a courtroom. Before him stood the bench. Ego stood nearby at attention. On his right was a desk occupied by the prosecutor, who looked exactly like Joe. Sitting at the same desk as him, on the left was his defense attorney, who looked exactly like Kari, like his own sister.

"Just take it easy and act normal and you'll be fine," Kari said.

Tai nodded and told himself to remember that it wasn't really Kari or Joe, that they were only symbols of different parts of Sora's mind. He was figuring this stuff out, now, and he just hoped that it would be enough to get him out of this mess. He didn't have Izzy to help this time. He was on his own.

"All rise," Ego said, "the honorable Superego presiding."

Superego, still Sora's mother, walked into the court, wearing normal clothes as usual, not bothering with a robe or anything even remotely judge-like. Joe and Kari wore suits, however, although Tai had no idea what that meant, if anything. He stood up.

"Court is now in session," Superego said, sitting down and banging the gavel. "Be seated."

All sat down.

"The case is the Mind vs. Thoughts of one Taichi "Tai" Kamiya. Thoughts, how do you plead?"

Tai sat silently for a moment until Kari nudged him. "Uh, not guilty, your honor."

"Objection, your honor!" Joe shouted.

"Overruled," Superego said. "Will the defense call the first witness?"

"Certainly, your honor," Kari said. "We call upon Her Royal Highness, Id."

The little toddler Id scampered up to the bench and sat down. Ego put a copy of _Better Gardens _in front of her. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

"Nope!" Id giggled mischievously.

"Id, remember what we talked about…" Ego said.

"Oh, okay," she grumbled. "I do."

Kari walked over to Id. "Id, what do you think about Tai."

"Tai's great!" Id said, smiling. "He's nice, and he's brave, and he's cute, too!"

Tai grinned. "So, thoughts of Tai are important to you?" Kari asked.

"Sure!" Id said.

"No further questions, your honor," Kari said, sitting down.

"Prosecution?" Superego asked. Joe approached Id.

"Now, Id," said Joe, "does Tai ever make you mad?"

"Oh, he makes me very mad sometimes," Id said scowling. "He gets pushy, and noisy, and he acts dumb."

"Hey!" Tai said, standing up.

"Bailiff?" Superego said. Ego walked over to Tai and smacked him with a tennis racket, causing him to sit back down.

"As I was saying…" Joe went on. "As for being nice, brave, and cute, are there any other guys who just as easily fit that description?"

"Well, let's see," Id said, counting off on her fingers, "there's Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise-"

"Someone we know, Id," Joe specified.

"Oh, well, there's Joe-"

"What?" Tai asked Kari, incredulous. "Joe?"

"Well, of course," Kari said. "We remember that stuff with the Bakemon on File Island. Joe was very brave. He may not be very macho, but he's smart on top of the other things mentioned about Tai."

"-Matt, sometimes, and then there's Kazuo in English, for example."

"Kazuo-in-English?" Tai asked. "Who's he?"

"Oh, like you don't know," Kari said dreamily. Tai was getting mad.

"So, what you're saying is that, if we pushed these thoughts of Tai back into our head, we'd still have plenty of other thoughts to take his place."

"Yeah, I guess so," Id said.

"No further questions, your honor," Joe said.

"You may be seated, Id," Superego said.

"Our next witness will be the thoughts on Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya, your honor," Kari said, urging Tai out of his seat.

Tai sat down. Ego put a copy of _Soccer World _in front of him. Tai put his hand on it. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you dogs?"

"Dogs?" Tai asked. He looked out into the courtroom and saw a couple of dogs sitting in some seats.

"Go get 'em, kid!" one of the dogs said.

"I do," he said.

Kari walked up to him. "Thoughts, in your own words, how do you feel about us?"

Tai swallowed. If ever there was a time to say something, now was the time.

"Sora is… very special to me. She's got a great personality. She's always caring, compassionate, and she looks out for the best in people. Whenever I see her, I always feel happier. Lighter, you know? Look, I don't want anything bad to happen to her. All I want to do is help her."

Kari wiped a small tear from her eye. "Thank you. No further questions. Your witness."

Joe walked over to Tai, his face studying him warily.

"So, thoughts, you say Tai feels this way about us?" Joe asked. "That we're important to Tai. You go so far as to speak for Tai yourself. And yet, you know very well that Tai has hardly shown any evidence of these feelings. How do you explain that?"

"I… he's just afraid that Sora wouldn't feel the same, and he'd rather not know if that was true," Tai said.

"Oh come on!" Joe said. "Tai's not afraid of anything, and you know it! Despite everything you've said, we know that you're detrimental as thoughts. If you were really good for us, you would stop getting our hopes up and admit reality. Your honor, I recommend that we quiet him immediately."

"I agree," Superego said. "Guilty!"

"Hey, wait, isn't there supposed to be a jury or something?" Tai asked.

Superego looked puzzled. "Hmm, I guess so. Jury?"

Tai looked over to the jury box. It was filled with 11-year-old Matts.

"Matt?" Tai asked of all 12 of them.

"Shoot him!" said one.

"Hang him!" said another.

"Give him the chair!" said a third.

"Well, looks like you lose, Thoughts."

The next thing Tai knew, he was on a table, his hands, feet and body restrained with straps.

"Uh oh," Tai said. Little Id walked over to the table.

"Sorry about this," she said. "But I guess this really is for the best. It was nice knowing you, though."

"Okay, enough talk," Tai heard Ego say. He turned and screamed as he saw Superego standing behind Ego, who was holding a very sharp-looking ax. "Time to quiet you once and for all." She raised the ax.

"Sora, wait!" shouted a voice.

All eyes were turned toward the new speaker. It was Biyomon.

"Biyomon?" asked Id, Ego, and Superego in unison.

"Sora, this isn't like you," Biyomon said. "You're a nice person. You don't believe in hurting anyone or anything."

"This isn't the same thing," said the three of them. "These are only thoughts. They need to be put out of mind."

"Do you really want to do that, Sora?" asked Biyomon. "I know that sometimes things like this hurt, but think about the good stuff. Like how important Tai is to you. He's your friend and he wants to help you. He's like any of the Digidestined, and I know the love you have for all your friends is stronger than your anger. Please, Sora, don't do this."

The three of them stood still for a moment, their faces wearing the same look of conflict. For a moment, there was only silence. Then, suddenly, the three of them and the table vanished, leaving Tai and Biyomon alone in the darkness.

"Biyomon, what are you doing here?" Tai asked, getting up, dusting himself off.

"I somehow knew that Sora was in trouble, so I came to help," she replied. "Izzy told me some stuff to remember and tell you once I went in. He can't contact you, so he can't pull you out without hurting you. Or me, now."

"Well, what's he say?" Tai asked.

"He says that the digimon we're looking for is named Evamon. He's a mega level digimon and he's the one who's probably blocking our signal. If we want out, we'll have to stop Evamon ourselves. Izzy says we might want to help make Sora aware of him, too. We just need to... what did Izzy say?... redirect her stream of consciousness."

"Well, anyway, thanks for the help, Biyomon," Tai said.

"You're welcome," she said.

The two of them began walking until they came to a door. They opened it and found themselves in a new place. It was a lush forest and amid it all was a flowing creek.

"What is this?" Tai asked.

"Beats me," Biyomon said. "Why would Sora have a stream running through her head."

"Stream?" Tai asked. "You don't think..."

"Hey, yeah, this must be-"

"Oh, for crying out loud..."

"-her Stream of Consciousness!" Biyomon finished.

"I think Sora's taking the term a little too literally," Tai said, shaking his head. "Let's see where this leads."

* * *

"Planetary Destroyer!" Evamon roared, blasting Tankmon out of his way. He easily avoided their attacks and blasted hordes of them into submission. Some he picked up and threw out of his way, laughing cruelly as he did so.

"Well, the Tankmon don't seem to be having much luck," Yolei remarked, watching from a hill nearby the control spire.

"Evamon's more formidable than I thought, but I can still handle him," Ken said calmly. "I suggest that your digimon digivolve now while they still have the chance."

"What about you?" Davis asked. "You're going to let us do the dirty work?"

"Oh, I have something ready for him," Ken said, smirking. "Just keep him busy and I'll finish him for good."

"Okay, but no tricks," Davis warned. "Veemon, we're going digivolve you into Raidramon instead. He ought to do better against a cyborg digimon like Evamon."

"I'm ready!" Veemon said, stepping forward.

"Okay, everybody!" Davis said. "Digi-armor energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to... Raidramon!"

The other digimon, excluding Gabumon, likewise digivolved and prepared for battle.

"Go get him, guys!" Matt encouraged.

"So, you've regrouped and readied yourselves, have you?" Evamon scoffed, flying towards them. "Let's see if you can give me something of a challenge this time."

"Blue Lightning!" Raidramon attacked. The electric attack shot through the metallic digimon, blasting through his circuits. It caught him off guard and he was still for a moment, stunned from the blast.

"Pegasusmon! Nefertimon!" Kari called. "Bind him with your Golden Noose!"

The two angelic digimon created a glowing golden rope and restrained Evamon's tentacles with it while he was still incapacitated.

"Gold Rush!" attacked Digmon.

"Tempest Wing!" attacked Halsemon.

The two attacks ricocheted off Evamon, doing no damage. Still Evamon struggled to free himself. And his weapons.

"Time for that backup I mentioned," Ken said. "Get him, Vermillimon!"

From some hidden underground chamber charged a huge digimon that looked a lot like a Monochromon, only much bigger and of a red color.

"What is that?" Matt asked.

"Vermillimon is an Ultimate-level digimon," Ken said smiling. "He evolves from Monochromon, but his Volcanic Strike S could take out five of them easily. I was saving him for you troublemakers, but this is as good a time as any for his unveiling."

"Volcano Strike S!" Vermillimon attacked. Immense fireballs blasted from his mouth, pummeling Evamon like a toy, blasting him into a nearby hill in a gigantic explosion.

"I knew putting a dark spiral on him was good idea," Ken said smugly. "That ought to take care of that nuisance."

But Ken spoke too soon. Evamon burst forth from the hill, his tentacles free of the golden noose and his hull only partially dented from the attack.

"Well, I commend you on your strategy," said Evamon. "But your meager intellects cannot compare to mine. And likewise, you cannot match my power."

"What do you want?" Ken demanded.

"Your dark rings and spirals are a novel idea, my friend, one which I wish to implement as well. However, I can scarcely take over the Digiworld with you taking it over as well. So, before you or the Digidestined gain too much power, I have decided to eliminate you and take your empire. Once I have the Digiworld, Earth will be the next logical target of conquest. After all, I'll have every living digimon at my disposal to do it!"

With that, Evamon flew behind Vermillimon, seizing his tail and lifting the much larger digimon into the air. Vermillimon struggled helplessly. Evamon began swinging him by his tail, faster and faster until, abruptly, he flung the massive digimon at Raidramon and the others, knocking them out of the sky and onto the ground.

"Time to finish this," Evamon said, "I'm getting bored. Planetary Destroyer!"

The cannon fired a devastating blast that sent all the digimon flying. Vermillimon landed, burnt, his dark spiral destroyed, but he was still unconscious. The others fell to the ground at their rookie levels once again.

"You see I can't be defeated," said Evamon coldly. "You are out of options."

"No," said Ken, flipping out his digivice. "There's one thing left."

* * *

"What is it?" Biyomon asked.

"It looks like... a dam!" Tai said.

It was indeed a dam. Walking upstream, the two of them had found this dam that was hindering it from flowing freely. Standing tall, made of concrete, it seemed out of place in the middle of the forest.

"This must be what's keeping Sora's conscious mind from working," Tai said. "Come on, Biyomon, we've got to see if we can free the stream!"

Climbing up the ladder while Biyomon flew to the top, Tai told himself that this was the end of the road. That this would be all that was needed to save Sora. That success was within his grasp.

"Looks like we've made it!" Tai said, standing atop the dam. He noticed a crank further along. "Maybe we can use that crank to open the floodgates."

"Great!" Biyomon said happily. "Let's go!"

Just then, a huge metallic object fell from the sky, landing in front of the crank, blocking their way. It was Evamon.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to go any farther," Evamon said. "To do so would be to completely disrupt my plans, and that is unacceptable."

"You'll have to learn to accept it!" Tai said fiercely. "We're not going to let you hurt Sora!"

"For the final time, I'm not trying to hurt her," Evamon said. "I require her. She is my insurance."

"What do you mean?" Biyomon asked.

"Yeah, enough riddles, what are you talking about?" Tai demanded.

"Well," said Evamon, "you see, I am merely a copy of my mind, much as you both are. However, as I am here, my real self, my original self, is off attempting to overthrow the Digimon Emperor. The plan is to seize control of his empire. Now, I did not become the pinnacle of digivolution simply to be destroyed by the likes of him, but if that should that happen, I am prepared. My work in data manipulation has given me the information necessary to create a device that can reformat any body into any other one in the Digiworld. If my real self is destroyed, my consciousness will survive here. Then, the device at the base of Sora's neck will activate, slowly reformatting her body into a new one for me, erasing her mind and replacing it with mine. Essentially, Sora will become a new me. In that way, I can be reborn, free to start anew. And if I do the same to another being, I can repeat the process. I am immortal. So, should your friends defeat me, which I doubt they will, I still win, because Sora vanishes and I remain."

Tai gawked in astonishment. "Why her?" he asked.

"I needed a human mind, and a Digidestined has innate powers that make them perfect for reformatting," said Evamon. "I have been tracking you all, waiting for a chance to strike. This girl was simply the easiest to acquire, and her body, weak as it may be in its current form, will do as well as any other once I've changed it. Now, I'm re-opening contact between you and your friends. You can retreat now, accepting that I have won, or you can stay and be destroyed. I strongly recommend that you save yourselves and give up this pointless crusade."

"Tai? Biyomon?" Izzy asked. "We've got you back! Are you all right?"

"Go ahead," Evamon said, "retreat."

Tai stood firm, his eyes hard. Biyomon did the same.

"Guys?" Izzy asked. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, we can hear you, Izzy," said Tai. "And we're fine. We're going after Evamon. Don't pull us out until we've done our job."

Evamon growled electrically. "So be it. If you want to die so badly, I will oblige."

* * *

Elsewhere, the real Evamon saw what Ken was doing. "You will never use that option," he said. "Planetary Destoyer!"

The explosion scattered all of them across the ground. Whatever Ken was about to do, he didn't get to do it, as his digivice landed too far away. Evamon looked around for the most convenient victim. Then he noticed Kari, struggling to get up.

"You're the first to go, girlie," Evamon said, raising his Brain Rupture gun. Kari turned to see him, her eyes wide with fear.

"No!" shouted Davis leaping upon Evamon, placing his hands over his eyes. "Not again! I'm not letting you hurt anyone else while I can stop you! I may not be able to make up leaving Sora unguarded, but I'll never, ever let it happen again!"

"You miserable brat!" Evamon said, levitating a mere ten feet in the air, struggling to shake Davis off of him. "You will pay for this!"

At first, it appeared that Evamon was helpless to free himself. Then, with one of his tentacles, he got Davis around the ankle and pulled him off. Then, he held him dangling by one foot, glaring at him.

"Very amusing," Evamon said. "Let's see how amusing it is when your brain splatters against the walls of your own skull." He raised his Brain Rupture gun.

"No, let him go!" Kari said, the others also raising a cry in protest. But Evamon wasn't listening.

"Wait," said Davis. "Uh, if you're so smart, then answer me one question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

"Such a simple question," Evamon laughed. "Based on what we know from the primary village, it was the egg."

"Hey, that makes sense," said Davis, the blood rushing to his head. "You really are a genius."

"Thank you," said Evamon. "Now, where were we?"

"Well, you were about to- whoa! Look, a distraction!"

"Where?" Evamon asked turning his head. "I don't see any... wait... distraction?"

He turned back to see that Davis had slipped out of his shoe, leaving Evamon holding it. Davis, meanwhile, was busy escaping.

"Why you little...!"

"You've got other worries," Ken said. "I just turned off the energy sucking feature on my control spire using my digivice. You know, the one that de-digivolves digimon from their higher forms?" He glanced over at Matt. "That's your cue, peon."

"About time!" Matt exclaimed. "Gabumon?"

"I'm ready! Gabumon warp digivolve to... Metal Garurumon!"

"You can't threaten me," Evamon said to the cybernetic wolf. "Brain Rupture!"

The attack struck Metal Garurumon right between his eyes. However, he remained perfectly still, not even flinching. He narrowed his eyes and growled at Evamon.

"So, your armor protects your gray matter, eh?" Evamon said. "No problem. Planetary-"

Suddenly, four thin blue beams from Metal Garurumon's Metal Wolf Snout attack shot forward, cutting right through the tentacle holding the gun. It fell to the ground and shattered as it was deleted.

"I had not foreseen that," Evamon said, right before he was hit with a Giga Missile. The others cheered on, not one of them noticing that despite his predicament, Evamon was chuckling.

_Fools, _Evamon thought, _even if they succeed, they lose. If I am destroyed, their little red-headed friend will pay the consequences!_

* * *

Biyomon flew into the air. "Biyomon digivolve to..."

There was silence. "Uh, Biyomon?" asked Tai. "What's wrong?"

"I can't digivolve," said Biyomon. "I don't know why, but I just can't!"

"You poor fools still don't understand," laughed Evamon, swatting Biyomon to the ground with a tentacle.

"Try and distract him while I go for the crank!" Tai said. Biyomon nodded. She flew up again and prepared to attack.

"Spiral twister!" she said, catching Evamon's eye. However, to her surprise, no attack was made. "Huh?" she asked, confused. She was then once again swatted out of the air. A moment later, Tai landed on top of her, also the victim of Evamon's attack.

"Pathetic," he remarked. "You're only wasting my time. As we speak, your friends are in position to destroy me. When I reformat this brain, your minds will be erased as well. Leave now, or face lives as vegetables!"

"Tai! Biyomon!" Izzy exclaimed. "I know why Biyomon can't attack or digivolve! In there, the only strength you have is your mind's own power. You're only as strong as your resolve is. So, if Biyomon has no attacks, then neither does he! Just use the power of your minds to overcome him!"

Tai looked at Biyomon uncertainly and she returned the look. Then, shrugging, they charged Evamon.

The attack was fruitless. Evamon backhanded Tai with one tentacle and seized Biyomon around the neck with another. Tai fell into the deep side of stream and sank like a stone.

"Tai-uck!" Biyomon said, as Evamon's grasp around her neck tightened.

"Bye-bye, birdy!" Evamon laughed, his eyes glowing red.

* * *

"Ice wolf claw!" Metal Garurumon attacked, freezing Evamon and sending him, his circuits torn with ice, to the ground.

"Stop!" Yolei shouted. "We need to ask him about Sora!"

"Forget her!" Ken yelled. "He'll never tell you anything and he's too dangerous to let go!"

"The Emperor is right," Evamon said weakly. "You'll never free her with my help."

"Matt?" Metal Garurumon asked, uncertain.

Matt wavered. In the end, he knew what he had to do. Evamon was pure evil. Even if it meant waiting longer for a cure for Sora, he had to be stopped. "Finish him," Matt said.

_That's right, _Evamon thought. _Finish me. Your friend can die by your hand, while I enjoy resurrection._

* * *

"Tai?" a voice called. "Tai, help me!"

Tai opened his eyes. He was underwater. He was in the stream. He was in the part behind the dam. What was that voice?

"Tai," it said. "You're the only one who can do it. Help Biyomon. And me! You must help me, Tai."

_Sora? _Tai thought.

"This is my conscious mind," Sora said, her voice coming from all around him. "You have to free it before it's too late. You cannot fail."

_No, _thought Tai, _I can't fail. I've got to stop him. I've got to stop Evamon._ Struggling, his body submerged deep below the water, he turned himself around and shot like a rocket to the surface. With unbelievable speed, he burst out of the water and pounced onto Evamon.

"What?" Evamon shouted, dropping Biyomon.

"I'm going to beat you, even if it costs me my mind to do it!" Tai roared, grabbing Evamon and slamming him on the ground. He could feel his strength growing as his resolve also grew. "This is the final battle I'll have with you. I'm tired of playing this game!" He kicked Evamon with all his might, sending him flying several feet.

Tai stood proud, knowing he'd won... when Evamon leapt up and tackled him, pressing him to the ground and punching his head into the concrete floor of the dam.

"Well, the game's over, boy," said Evamon coldly, "and you lost."

"Then let's see if Sora wants to play, too!" Biyomon said. Evamon turned and saw that while he'd been fighting Tai, Biyomon had turned the crank. The roar of water was heard as the stream began to flow freely.

"No..." said Evamon, his voice small.

"YES," said a voice booming all around them.

The dam, the stream, and the forest all vanished and the three of them found themselves in an infinite void of stars. Then, out of the darkness, Sora appeared, looking normal, except that she was the size of a giant, making the others seem no bigger than insects.

"You don't belong here," she said, glaring at Evamon. And without another word, she reached out with her hand and crushed Evamon like an empty soda can before he could even scream. She tossed his shattered remains over her shoulder where they disintegrated.

She looked at Tai and Biyomon next. Her face softened. "Thank you for helping me," she said. "I'm not sure what's even going on here. I... I somehow wish you could stay here. Here I'm at my most honest and things are..." She stopped herself, chuckling. "No, forget it. You two should leave while I fix things around here. I'll see you on the outside."

Tai smiled a little, as did Biyomon. "You heard her, Izzy," Tai said. "Get us home."

And once again, Tai felt himself sucked back through the chaos from where he came.

* * *

Evamon was smiling until he got the message from his mental self. Sora had regained control. The reformatting would not occur. And that meant...

"Giga missile!" Metal Garurumon fired at the doomed digimon.

"NO!" Evamon screamed in fear. But it was too late. The missile struck him and he exploded into shrapnel as he was reduced to nothingness.

"We won, Metal Garurumon!" Matt said, the other Digidestined also running up to him. Just then, Metal Garurumon de-digivolved into Gabumon. All eyes were turned to Ken.

"Well, I couldn't just let you have a mega digimon flying around," Ken said. "So I turned on the control spire. My soldiers are coming, and, since you all look too weak to digivolve again, I suggest you leave immediately. Truce is off."

The six Digidestined and digimon looked at each other. Realizing that their options were limited, they turned and walked back toward Full Metal City.

* * *

"So, Sora should be okay?" Davis asked Tai.

"Yeah," Tai said, smiling. "She might wake up any second. The instant Evamon's mind was destroyed, that thing on her head fell off. Andromon took it. Said he'd probably destroy it."

"Good," said Davis. Then, he was quiet.

"Oh, before I forget," Tai said, going over to him, "I wanted to apologize for the way I yelled at you earlier."

"Hey, it's okay, I deserved it," Davis said.

"Well yeah, you did, but it wasn't all your fault. I was so upset I would've yelled at you no matter what. Evamon probably would've attacked one of us anyway, guarded or not. And it's more than that. I made some dumb moves before that got everyone in trouble, so I shouldn't blame you too harshly for doing the same things I did. Not to mention what you did for Kari out there."

"You heard?" he asked.

"Yeah, Kari said you were really brave and you acted like a real leader."

Davis got a big grin on his face.

"Hey, I'm going to talk to Joe, but good job, buddy," Tai said.

Davis went over to Veemon. "Hear that, Veemon?" Davis asked.

"Congratulations!" Veemon said happily.

"Yeah, she might even go out with me after this!" Davis said.

"Don't push your luck," Kari said, passing by at that moment.

Davis blushed. "Uh, what I meant was-"

"Hey, she's waking up!" Joe said. Everyone gathered around Sora who was just beginning to open her eyes.

"Tai?" she asked. "Joe? Matt? Everyone? What happened?"

Tai, Joe, Izzy, and Biyomon all looked at each other.

"Long story, Sora," said Izzy.

"Did we find Andromon?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Davis, "he's been warned."

"Great," she said, wearily. "Goodnight."

And with that, she fell back to sleep, not saying another word.

* * *

It was a week later that Tai walked into the cafe in downtown Tokyo. Sora was sitting at a table near a window. She hadn't spoken to Tai all week, not since he told her everything he saw while in her mind. Because she hadn't remembered anything, Tai figured he still owed her an explanation of his trip inside her head. She had been completely silent, and hadn't even said hello when she saw him. Then, earlier that day, she broke her silence and called him and told him to meet her at the restaurant. He sat down at a table with her.

"Hey, Sora," he said. "What's up?"

"Well, I wanted to apologize for giving you the cold shoulder," Sora said. "It's just that... well..."

"I understand," Tai said. "I had no right to go in there and I never would have unless-"

"No, it's not that!" Sora said, waving her hand. "It's..."

She was silent, then, as she buried her face in her hands. When she removed them, Tai saw that her face was red and she was holding back tears in her eyes, but barely.

"I'm just so, so embarassed!" she said.

"Hey, hey, don't be!" Tai said. "I mean, everyone's mind is probably weird too. You'd probably have seen some weird stuff if you went into my mind."

"Like what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like, uh..." The image of a dream he had of Mimi dressed up as Marilyn Monroe singing him "Happy Birthday" came to mind. "Just stuff," he finished.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry you had to go through it," she said, looking down.

"Don't be."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well," he began uneasily. "To be honest, I've stared at you a hundred times and seen you staring back at me whenever we talk and... well, I always wondered what kind of things I'd see if I looked behind your eyes. Now... I know."

Sora looked at him for a minute. Then she smiled and stood up.

"That's sweet," she said, standing over him. And, in an instant, she leaned down and gave him a soft peck on the cheek.

Tai, his face a little flushed and his eyes wide, looked after her as she walked out the door, leaving him alone in the booth.

"Well," he said aloud to no one, smirking as he leaned back in his booth, "I'd like to see Kazuo-in-English do better."

**The End.**

_(Note: Evamon and Vermillimon are not my creations, nor are any other characters in this story.)_


	4. Author's Notes and Commentary

**Behind Your Eyes:**

**Author's Notes**

It's a funny old world and I didn't think I'd ever return to the world of sappy fanfiction, but after many years, here I am again. I first published "Behind Your Eyes" in 2000, and finished it in 2001, so here it is 10 years later and I'm re-reading it. What do I think, seeing it again? I'll get to that.

First of all, let me explain a bit about the motivation for this story and where I was coming from when writing it. I was dually inspired, firstly by seeing other works that featured trips inside someone's head, imagination, etc., and thought to myself, "You know, I think I can do that too." Helping that out was my basic knowledge of psychology I learned in high school and researched on my own. A bit of Freud, a bit of Jung, and a whole lot of taking liberties that would make psychology experts cringe, and you've got the makings of a story.

Another, more cynical motivation for the story was my feelings about romance as it was portrayed in other works. Romance isn't what I really enjoy writing; I much prefer comedy or action/adventure. But I enjoyed the subtle relationship between Tai and Sora portrayed in the original Digimon Adventure and found myself enjoying writing a bit of relationship stuff in one of my other works, "Scattered." Reception to that was positive, so I thought I'd give it another go, this time with more effort and a much longer story.

But I digress. Like I said, my problem was with how other works of fiction portray romance, especially in fanfiction. A boy and a girl have one episode where they're friendly to each other? They're _soulmates!_ The world is in danger and what does it take to save it? These two must _loudly proclaim their undying love for each other!_ And so on. The problem is that this extends to every pairing no matter what the age or actual level of emotion in the original work. I like to write things in character and heartfelt passionate confessions so rarely happen in kids' shows like "Digimon," yet every Tai/Sora pairing that I saw drifted into that territory.

Let's face it: Tai and Sora aren't hardcore in love. In fact, according to the show's canon, they never really went beyond a simple crush. (For the record, the story was first published before the show revealed that Matt x Sora was canon. I won't hate on those who support that relationship, but I didn't see it then and I don't see it now. I'll leave it at that.) At the time of this story and Digimon 02, they're 14. Think about yourself at 14 if you're older (and in my case, I now feel WAAAAY older) and the kind of relationships you may have had. That's like _8th grade_, and who has met the boy or girl they're going to marry at that age? Never mind confessing undying, everlasting love. It usually feels forced and it takes me out of a story to read that kind of stuff unless someone has really taken the time to develop it and make it work. (And I have read works that do, so it's not impossible.)

So, that's why I prefer a "can't spit it out" approach (to borrow the TV Tropes term). Tai and Sora have good chemistry, but they're both too young to quite embrace their own changing feelings about each other given their long past. The situation raises a lot of tough questions. Do you want to jeopardize a friendship to pursue a relationship? Or is it better to keep things as they are? Before I take the risk, what does this person think of me? These are questions I've struggled with, and I suspect many others have done the same. I preferred not to state this issue outright, but rather phrase it with Tai's final summation that he has often wondered what is "behind her eyes." The mystery of what a person thinks and feels is what makes for good romance. Relationships often develop slowly with things emerging as we're willing to divulge bits of ourselves. So, no sappy confessions, no "one true love," and no world-ending kiss at the end.

The story revolves around Evamon trying to take over Sora's mind and body and the dual plotlines of hunting him down in the physical world as our intrepid psychonaut Tai travels the mental realm. But, in truth, the physical realm is mostly an excuse to do the mental stuff. It's not bad stuff, but I find myself way less interested in that part than I am in seeing what happens the further Tai travels down the rabbit hole. Let's examine some of the ideas and themes I had for writing what I wrote.

**Id, Ego, and Superego**

The great thing about doing a story that largely takes place in a fantasy realm is that you can pretty much do whatever you want, and to me the idea of splitting Sora into 3 distinct entities was a lot of fun. Id is completely childish and does what she wants, and that includes random confessions of gushy-mushy love, while Ego realizes that Sora is not quite ready to deal with the practical effects of such a confession. Thus, the two were represented by a very young child and her 11-year-old self (who was mature enough to start thinking of consequences and possibilities). Since her mother is shown to be a largely restrictive and protective force, Sora's mother was a good fit for Superego, as she ultimately decides Right and Wrong issues. But Sora as she appears in the real world does not make an appearance as any of these subconscious-dwelling entities because each one represents a _piece_ of herself, but not the _whole _of her true self. The interplay between the three represents separate, incomplete parts of human personality as they work together. The implication is that Sora is not unique; we _all_ have these forces at work, and I think it's fascinating to think about how our minds work through a difficult issue. Do you give in to your Id? Does your Ego see an open possibility? Is your sense of morality strong enough to resist difficult temptation? Again, interesting stuff to me.

**Fantasies**

Sora is a cool character. In the show, we see her as maternal, sporty, compassionate, unconfident, teasing, conflicted, and open-minded as she progresses through the plot of season 1 and 2. As much as I like anime, female members of ensemble casts don't often get a fair share of screen time or development, and that applies to shows made for kids and adults alike. That's why it irritates me that Sora is so often relegated to "Tai/Matt's girlfriend" in fanfiction. She holds the Crest of Love, so loving someone is her most important (i.e. "only") trait. Bleh.

In writing this story, I wanted to show that her fantasies were based on various interests and Tai's presence was incidental. If every fantasy she had was about him, it would make her entirely one-dimensional. While Tai is an important part of two of her fantasies, the concert and the school dance, neither her tennis match fantasy nor her concert are focused on him. She has ambitions and dreams that might be unrealistic, but at least they go beyond boy-chasing. And even at that, she's not limited to Tai in her aims. That's why I mention "Kazuo in English class." I wanted to show that there are other boys she has her eye on besides Tai. Again, no "one true love" moments in _my_ story.

Still, it's a romance story, and attraction to someone else is part of what makes it cool. Tai is gaining insight into the fact that he is important to Sora and this bolsters his confidence to indirectly confess his feelings at the end.

Also, it's just really fun to play with the possibilities of an imaginary world and getting to make her a concert pianist or giving the Wimbledon announcer a ridiculously over-the-top British accent. After all, the story isn't so serious that I can't insert some jokes into it here and there.

The only regret I have about it is that I didn't make it even more crazy and surreal, as others later suggested, but ultimately that would just be filler to the main story, so I haven't added anything superfluous.

**My Reaction**

Well, it has been a long time and over the years it has attracted some good comments and even ended up on a few favorite and "best of" lists, so I think the people have spoken as to the quality of the story. People just love a good romance, and I'm happy to see that my attempt at writing one pleased most of my readers. To date, it is one of my most highly-reviewed stories despite being one of the shortest. I'm glad it has resonated with people so well and I found myself chuckling at the jokes I forgot I wrote. To make it more readable, I tightened up a bit of the dialogue and had to reformat a few things since FFN has screwed up the formatting over the years, but overall it still holds together pretty well for what it is. Unless you read the story every month and know it by heart, you won't notice the changes. And, if you're a first-time reader, you're really not missing anything other than a few misspellings, typos, and cryptic bits of dialogue.

Thank you for reading and for all your supportive comments. I was genuinely touched re-reading the reviews and I'm glad it struck a chord with fellow Taiora lovers. As usual, feel free to leave a comment or review.

-Thinker

December, 2011

P.S. I'll be reviewing and revising my other works as outlined in my FFN profile and then I'll finish my half-completed novel "Ancient Enemy." I hope you'll save me to favorites or author alerts for new updates!


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